Chapter 35
Dora and Louis were sitting at a table in the Pousada d’Areia hotel, next to the beach of Arraial do Cabo, sixty miles away from Rio de Janeiro. It was late May 2022, the overbearing heat of the southern tropical summer had given way to a warm fall. They had decided to take a long weekend off with Helena and Guillermo, who had been married for one year.
Just outside of the pousada, Aurora and Dorian were playing in the white sand of the beach, and jumping in and out of the crystal clear water. Around them, Jorginho and his team were doing a discreet but careful surveillance of the area, with guns hidden in their diving suits. Two motorboats, moored a few hundred yards away from the shore, were also part of the surveillance squad.
They were just ending their lavish seafood lunch, when Helena's phone blinked. It was a call from Valerio. Helena answered and greeted Valerio warmly, then suddenly fell silent. Dora and the others could hear that the tone of Valerio’s voice was serious, but could not catch any words. After a few seconds Helena turned pale, and then she tapped her glasses to signal the other three to put on theirs also.
Helena switched the call into videoconference mode, and the face of Valerio appeared on the glasses of everybody.
“Ok, Valerio, now you can see and hear all of us. Please, repeat the news. I think it is better that we all know at once.”
Valerio took a deep breath and repeated again.
“Hi everyone, George has just died. He was found dead yesterday evening, Pacific time - which means a few hours ago - on the Sunnyvale, California golf course he used to frequent. I got the newswire feed one hour ago, just after the coroner confirmed the death. It is now breaking news.”
Guillermo immediately asked the question that everybody was thinking.
“Is there any idea of the cause of the death? I mean, was it natural?”
“At this stage, no one really knows. I just called the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, who happens to know the coroner. There were no signs of any wound on the body so it is either a natural death, like a stroke or heart attack, or a very sophisticated murder. We need to wait for the results of the autopsy.”
“Forget the autopsy!” Helena shouted, “He has obviously been killed! We all know how you can manipulate post-mortem examinations. George was one of the first to benefit from this, a long time ago. We just have to find out who killed him, and get our revenge.”
She did not add anything else. George was still the father of Aurora, and Helena could not tolerate this.
Louis tried to calm her, with practicality.
“Helena, please, this is a possibility, but don’t get overwhelmed. After the Ambrosiax scandal broke out three months ago, there are tens of thousands of people that have very good reasons to blame George and his company – starting from the nearly seven thousand women that developed cancer during pregnancy after taking Ambrosiax. Almost all of them have died, leaving grief and anger among their husbands, children and relatives. Then, consider the hundreds of thousands of women that have taken it, and now have to face the decision between getting pregnant and getting a tumor, like you and Dora did a few years back. These women did not know they were taking a risk. They paid tens of thousands of dollars to get the life-extending drug, assuming it was safe. Last, do not forget about the hundreds of thousands of disgruntled shareholders that put tens of billions of their dollars into Ambrosiax and in a few weeks saw their holdings and savings disappear by this scandal. The list of people who might have wished to see George dead is simply too long. Even if he has been killed, we will never find out.”
Helena stood up, her eyes scanning the people sitting at the table,
“I did not say it will be easy. I just cannot let it go unpunished. I have all the time I need to prepare my revenge; sooner or later I will find out.”
She left the table and hurried to the beach, calling Aurora to get in the car to go home. Aurora tried to protest, but quickly gave in. It was one of the times when arguing with mom was hopeless.
Dora and Louis remained alone at the table. They simultaneously looked out of the window to see Dorian, who was giving a hard time to a crab that was desperately trying to get back into the water. A few yards away, Jorginho was observing the scene with a smile of amusement.
Dora and Louis continued the meeting with Valerio.
“Have you already got in touch with Tarek? What’s his view?”, Louis asked.
Valerio nodded, his face got all the more somber,
“He called me shortly after the news broke. I think he knows something. He predicted no wounds would be found on the body, before I talked to my colleague at the Chronicle. Either Tarek knows personally the coroner in California, which I do not believe, or he has some information that might be relevant to us. I asked him to elaborate further, but he refused. He just told me that as soon as he gets some evidence he is expecting from his informants, he may contact you, Louis.”
Dora jumped in,
“What was Tarek’s reaction? Is he thinking about revenge, like Helena?”
“No, not at all,” Valerio replied, “I do not want to say that he was happy to hear about George’s death, but he was quite apathetic. He kind of expected this to happen, because he has always thought George had disordered desire for success, even with the many talents and gifts he possessed. He told me he is going to get in touch with the two of you soon. He thinks you are trusting the Mossad way too much.”
“Ok, Valerio,” Louis interrupted, “We will be waiting for his call. Telomerax has gone public, and the results are tens of thousands of innocent victims, among which George. I wish I could take a break from all of this, just for one day, but apparently it is not possible. Please get back to me as soon as you have some news. We must drive back to Rio now.”
Louis ended the video call, then all the team boarded the jeeps and the small convoy headed back to Rio. Dorian made it clear that he was not pleased with having his afternoon at the seaside cut short, and he did not stop crying until Jorginho captured “his” crab in an empty plastic bottle for him to bring home. It was not until they had almost reached their destination, on the bridge that connects Rio to Niteroi over the Guanabara Bay, that Dora recalled the actual purpose of the whole trip.
She first glanced back at Dorian, was sleeping with the bottle firmly grasped in his hands.
“Louis,” she said, “You told me that you wanted to invite Helena and Guillermo out to share big news. I am guessing Valerio’s news spoiled it...”
“Yes, indeed. It was about Aurora, and Dorian as well…how they are growing up. I cannot determine if the news is good or bad.”
Dora moved closer to Louis, turning an eye towards the backseat to make sure Dorian was still asleep. She then whispered,
“What do you mean? Are they going to develop some strange feature? You did not say it is bad, so it must not be a sickness..”
“Dora,” Louis replied further lowering his voice, “It is not a sickness. It is the way they are. Their DNA replicates perfectly for some reason, I still have to find out, but it’s like they have Telomerax embedded in their genes.”
“Louis, this means that…”
“Yes, Dora. They are the first members of a new species of humans. They are the first naturally born immortals.”
Part Three
Prohibition and War